Part 4.
Everyone was in shock. It had been 30 years or more since there had been an outbreak of deadly storms like this. And there had not been live cameras, wall to wall media and internet to follow it all. It was overwhelming. There were so many storms, all marching from the SW. And several were monsters, F4 and F5 storms. The one we were watching live on TV was one such monster. It was just minutes outside of town and was going to march straight through it. Ironically, it never rained a drop where we were, and the sun was out a good bit of the time. But others weren’t so lucky. Just as the storm was slamming Westal, my buddy that had invited me up the hill got called out. Two different smaller storms where in our county. While they largely avoided the most populated areas, there were residential structures severely damaged, people trapped and hurt, and both of the two main highways coming through town were blocked by downed trees; both north and south of town. It was all hands on deck for everyone. I asked if he wanted me to come with him, and he said he couldn’t bring me along. I was pacing around, feeling like I needed to do something. The initial images coming in were heartbreaking. It was devastation. After it looked like the worst had passed, I thanked my neighbors for their hospitality and said I was headed to Westal. I didn’t know what to do, but I was going to do something. I went back home and started loading my truck. It was no longer the old beat up $6k truck; but a new fullsize crew cab 4 wheel drive. I threw my chainsaw, an axe and sledge hammer, a tank of gas, and a couple of tow chains and straps in the bed along with a pair of broken in work gloves. In addition, I had a number of sleeping bags, blankets, a box of old cloths I had been meaning to take to Goodwill, flashlights and batteries in my garage. Like more then any one person should ever have. But I now had a use for them. I put them all in the truck. I had a few cases of bottled water and threw those in the truck too. Finally I grabbed the first aid kit I kept inside the house as well as the one I kept in my boat and put them into the truck as well. I filled my truck with everything I could think that might could help and managed to get the cover closed. I ran inside to change into some jeans and boots and came back out through my garage door. I found Brittany standing by my truck.
She said “I know we just met, but I have a huge favor to ask. I left home with literally the cloths I have on. I really would like to check on my apartment, but I don’t know if I can get there in my car. Again it is a huge favor, but could I ride with you and could we try to see if we can get to my apartment and hopefully get some cloths?” “Of course” I answered “but I am going to go ahead and apologize for my truck being so messy. If I had known a pretty girl was going to be riding with me I would have cleaned it up some”. She said “thank you so much”. Being a gentlemen I opened the passenger door and she managed to crawl up into the seat, though it was a stretch for her.
As we pulled out it had become dark. I looked over at her and said “I hope we don’t regret this”: On the ride we chatted in between phone calls. About 10 minutes out of town we found where one of the tornados had crossed the highway. Someone had cut the trees enough to get one vehicle through at a time, but there were still limbs and debris in the road we had to drive over or through. This was my first new truck, and hearing tree limbs scraping down each side of the truck made me pucker up. What the heck I thought, there are a whole lot of people that are having much bigger problems than a few scratches on a truck. There were a couple of houses that the storm had damaged, but they looked largely intact and there were people milling about in the glow of headlights so we pushed on.
As we talked, I found out she was a dental assistant at a large practice in town that did both general dentistry and orthodontics. That is where and why she had braces. I found out she was 26. I found out where she lived, and I crossed my fingers that she still had an apartment. I knew it would be close. And I found out she had a boyfriend who was in the military and currently deployed. From my phone I found out where EMS had set up their main command post. It was at a large park that also had a large public rec center. This was where they were taking many of the people that were uninjured but now homeless. The problem was it was on the south side of town, and I was coming from the north side. And there was a path of destruction that separated us. I came in on one of the main highways, a divided 4 lane. Police had the road closed and were diverting traffic. I pulled over and got out. I talked to one of the cops and told him what I was doing and where I was trying to get. Having grown up there I knew most all the little back roads. He told me all the main roads were blocked or closed. But if I knew my way around I could get there. As I thanked him and wished him good luck, I headed to my truck. Something seemed really odd, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. As I got back in the truck I realized what it was. Other than headlights, flashlights, and flashing emergency lights, it was black. I told Brittany to look out the front window and asked her what she saw. She asked me what I was talking about. I said “it’s pitch black as far as you can see. There is no power. There may be no lights to power though.”
After almost an hour I made it to my first stop, the rec center. It should have taken 10 minutes. But I was forced to be very creative in my route and felt like I had been around the world to get there. It was mass pandemonium. Flashing lights everywhere, police, fire, emts, red cross, dirty shell shocked people huddled in a basketball gym. There was no cell service. There was no power. They did at least have some generators up and running and they had food for the victims. I found someone that looked official and told them I had something to drop off. I hauled several large boxes of sleeping bags over, followed by the cloths and blankets, then the cases of water and finally a box of a dozen or more flashlights and hundreds of batteries. I didn’t know if I had really helped, but I was trying. I got back in the truck. Off to stop two, Brittany’s apartment.
I made another big loop taking surface streets and pig trails, and approached her apartment complex. The closer we got to the storm’s path, the more destruction could be seen. And the more people that were just milling around outside. Luckily her apartment had not been in the main path. There were limbs down, a few signs leaning crooked, some trash cans, deck and patio furniture blown here and there, and I am sure a lot of missing shingles and a few broken windows. But it was pitch black other than the glow from a few other vehicles and a few flashlights so it was really hard to tell. But her building was here. She directed me to her building and told me she was on the second floor. She pointed out the corner of the building where her stairs were. I didn’t bother looking for a parking spot. i just drove over the curb and drove through the yard, stopping 20 or 30’ from the stairs. As I turned off the truck, I handed her a headlamp and a flashlight. I slipped a headlamp onto my head, pulled a flashlight off the charger and stuck it in my left pocket and then opened the console. I pulled out a little .380 pistol and stuck it in my front right pocket. Brittany had seen me do this and her eyes got a little big. I told her “just in case, and I have a pistol permit “
We climbed the stairs and arrived at her door. She took her keys out of her pocket. When she went to unlock the door she found it was already unlocked. She said “I must have forgotten to lock the door, I was in a panic.” I told her just to be safe, let me take a look just to make sure. I had a pretty bright Streamlight that lit up most of the living room. Nobody here. I asked Brittany just to hang here for a second. I did not pull the gun out of my pocket because I didn’t want to freak her out. And I knew the odds of someone being in here were astronomically low. Nonetheless I stuck my right hand in my pocket and around the grip of the pistol as I was walking away from her. I checked kitchen and dining nook. Nobody there. I opened the first door in the hall and found a treadmill and some workout stuff. But nobody. I checked the closet just in case. The christmas tree made my pulse jump a little when I opened the door, but no people. I saw the door to the bathroom was open and shined in there and didn’t see anything so I went to the last door, it was open too. I found no one in her bedroom or closet. And then my brain clicked and I thought about every horror movie. The killer is always hiding behind the shower curtain. I went back to the bathroom and threw back the shower curtain. All that was there was a shower head. I hollered out to her that it was clear. As I turned around towards the door my light reflected off of something metallic beside the sink. I looked at it in the light. It was a facebow with a blue highpull headgear strap attached to one side of it. I was looking at it when she came through the bathroom door. She saw me looking at the headgear and screeched “Oh my God, you weren’t supposed to see that” and grabbed it up trying to hide it from view.
